561 Springfield Ave, Summit NJ 07901-4404. Office: 908-273-5549, Fax: (call)

Rev Charles Rush Senior Minister	Rev Julie Yarborough Associate Minister	Rev Caroline Dean Associate Minister
Mark Miller Minister of Music	Alison Caravano Children's Choir Director	Daniel Rufolo Jazz Pianist
Cheryl Levy Administrator	Marybeth Doctor Cornerstone Director	Juan Restrepo Sexton

[ top | listing | photos | bios ]

Staff Bios

[ Chuck Rush | Julie Yarborough | Caroline Dean | Mark Miller
| Alison Caravano | Daniel Rufolo | Marybeth Doctor ]

Rev Charles Rush, Senior Minister –

Chuck Rush has been the Senior Minister at Christ Church since 1993. He is the author of a short Lenten devotional book, “Let This Cup Pass From Me”, a reflection on the humane spirituality of Jesus in the last week of his life. Chuck is presently at work on another volume about the values that make up a rounded spiritual life and the quest for authenticity. His sermons regularly focus on the intersection between spiritual wholeness and emotional well being, reflecting recent insights between religion and psychology.

Chuck studied philosophy and politics at Wake Forest University and earned a Ph.D from Princeton Seminary where he wrote on Reinhold Niebuhr and World War II. He has done post-doctoral research at Cambridge University. For eight years he taught ethics at Rutgers University.

Chuck has traded pulpits in Scotland, where he enjoyed not only the golf, the fly fishing and the whiskey, but also the Celtic worship tradition that was founded on the island of Iona. Those liturgical traditions attempt to find common ground between Protestants and Catholics, an integral part of the worship at Christ Church as well.

Chuck has been married to Kate Rush more years than seem possible, has four grown children, five grandchildren with a sixth expected in the Summer of 2011. Shortly they will have a puppy. He has raised on generation at Christ Church and is at the front end of raising a second.

Rev Julie Yarborough, Associate Minister –

Julie Yarborough has been Associate Pastor at Christ Church since August 1996. Prior to that, she served as associate pastor of Nichols United Methodist Church in Trumbull, Connecticut. Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, she is a graduate of Earlham College and Yale Divinity School.

Julie has worked in prison ministry, served as a rape crisis counselor, and was assistant manager of a bookstore. Along with Caroline Dean, Julie oversees the educational ministries of Christ Church. Although she works with all ages on faith formation, her main focus is the children of Christ Church. She brought the Workshop Rotation Model to Christ Church in 1990 and writes the curriculum for this interactive model of Sunday school.

Julie enjoys leading workshops and retreats, and is particularly interested in helping people of all ages to delve deeper into the spiritual life. She is mother to Matthew and Lizzie, and her husband is the Reverend Jeff Markay, a United Methodist pastor.

Rev Caroline Dean, Associate Minister –

Caroline Lawson Dean has been a pastor at Christ Church since August of 2009. She is the Associate Minister of Adult and Youth Christian Education. Caroline studied at the University of Richmond and Duke's Divinity School.

Caroline has worked for a semester as a hospital chaplain at UNC hospitals. She has also done an internship at the Murdoch Center in Butner, NC, as a chaplain working with adults with mental and developmental disabilities.

Caroline's husband Brantley is a Phd student at Drew University in the Late Ancient Studies program. Caroline and Brantley enjoy being outside with their dog "Tex." If you have any questions about the youth or adult programming at Christ Church, please feel free to email Caroline at . You are also invited to read Caroline's blog, www.WindsweptWorship.blogspot.com.

Mark Miller, Minister of Music –

Besides being Minister of Music at Christ Church, Mark currently serves on the faculty at both Drew University and at Yale University where he teaches sacred music and worship.

Between 2002 and 2007 he was Director of Contemporary Worship at the Marble Collegiate Church in New York and from 1999 to 2001 he was Music Associate and Assistant Organist of The Riverside Church in New York City. Mark received his Bachelor of Arts in Music from Yale and his Master of Music in Organ Performance from Juilliard.

Composing is one of Mark's passions. In 2002 Abingdon Press launched the Mark Miller Anthem Series which has since become some of the most popular music at the United Methodist Publishing House. Mark's organ work, Toccata on “God Rest Ye Merry” (recorded 2000 on Gothic's label) was featured on National Public Radio's program Pipe Dreams. James Earl Jones was the narrator of his original work, Let Justice Roll: Song from a Birmingham Jail, which was also featured on NBC's program Positively Black. Mark is also the Composer-in-Residence for the Harmonium Choral Society, based in Morris County, New Jersey. Harmonium recently premiered a major commissioned work by him which appears on their new cd Whitmania available at www.harmonium.org.

Mark is well known throughout the United Methodist Church as a worship leader, teacher and performer of sacred music. Since 1997 he has performed concerts and directed conferences at churches both across the United States and internationally. In April 2008 Mark was the Director of Music for the General Conference of the United Methodist Church in Forth Worth, Texas.

Mark and his band, The Brooklyn Collective, recently recorded a new CD Grace Abounds.

Alison Caravano, Children's Choir Director –

Alison Vidal Caravano has been the Children's Choirs Director at Christ Church in Summit, NJ, since 2007. Ali graduated from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in 2008 double majoring in Vocal Performance and Music Education. Ali has performed at such esteemed venues as: Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Avery Fisher Hall, Basilica of the National Shrine, The National Cathedral, and the Rutgers Stadium for his holiness, the Dalai Lama. Ali has performed in eight different countries, given a number of recitals and has been seen in seven operas. Some of her stage highlights include: Jenny Hildebrand in “Street Scene,” Witch 1 in “Dido and Aneas,” Jenny Reefer in “The Mother of Us All,” Prashkowia in “The Merry Widow,” and Bard Summerscape Opera's production of “Genoveva,” under the direction of Kasper Bech Holten.

Ali Caravano is currently a middle school choral and general music teacher in the Fair Lawn School District where she oversees three choirs. Recently, Mrs. Caravano musically directed Thomas Jefferson Middle School's production of “Annie” which was declared, “A middle school masterpiece,” by Cornell Christianson. In 2011, Ali Caravano musically directed Fair Lawn High School's production of “Bye, Bye, Birdie” in which her chorus and featured vocal ensembles were both nominated for a Metropolitan High School Theater Award. Additionally, she has been teaching private voice and piano lessons since 2006.

Ali resides in New Providence, NJ, with her wonderful and supportive husband, Vinny, and their dogs, Lady and Charlemagne.

Daniel Rufolo, Jazz Pianist –

Daniel Rufolo is a pianist, composer and arranger with a diverse repertoire and a vibrant transmittable energy.

When Daniel arranges his hands to play, you can feel the room ready with him. His perceptiveness is revealed through his get-to-the-soul meditational compositions. Other tunes he writes are invigorating, and you find yourself holding your breath not to miss a note. His light spirited, easy to laugh nature combining with a relentless drive makes him the person you look to work with.

Daniel participated in pre-college studies with the Wachovia NJPAC Jazz for Teens program for 5 years, earning the JFT International Groningen Award to study at the Prins Claus Conservatory, Hanze University in Holland.

In 2010 he received a Bachelor of Music in jazz performance from William Paterson. Throughout his studies there he received instruction from musicians such as Mulgrew Miller, Armen Donelian, Harold Mabern, and Rich Perry. He studied jazz arranging with Rich Derosa. While attending William Paterson, Daniel discovered his passion for classical and new music while studying piano under professor Elka Kirkpatrick.

Daniel has completed an honors thesis under the guidance of Dr. John Link, where he developed a new microtonal system to compose with using CSound. Daniel's music is constantly stretching the boarders and limits. Currently, Daniel is studying music composition in the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, and producing two albums. He is completely obsessed with music.

At Christ Church where Daniel has long been a member, he organizes and performs original compositions at annual concerts benefiting such causes as Katrina relief, Darfur, and rehabilitation of US soldiers. He believes that music is a powerful art form and can change our world.

Marybeth Doctor, Cornerstone Director –

Marybeth Doctor came to The Cornerstone School with a background rich in experience. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College, Marybeth taught special needs students in Phoenix, Arizona, as a corps member of Teach for America. She continued to demonstrate her commitment to providing excellent education for children as Education Director at Playhouse Cooperative Preschool in West Orange. Recently Marybeth completed a term of service in Mumbai, India, where she taught at a school for orphans. She also consulted at a local International School and led parenting workshops through the American Women's Club of Bombay.

Her article "Healing in the Aftermath of Tragedy," offering strategies for parents with young children, was published in L'Officiel magazine in India following the terrorist attack on Mumbai in November 2008.